What is THAT?!? Oh, it's the sun.

What is that? What did you say? Is the sun actually shining? I believe it is. The sky is still mostly covered with clouds, but there is some sun trying to peek through. If anything, its at least a little brighter out today.

It's not even 10:AM and I have a headache. Today is picture day at school, and although the kids and I picked out clothes and got them ready last night, the morning was still rough.

But, the world did not stop spinning. The day did not stop and start over, simply because I was having a bad day. It's still going. That will lead to tomorrow, which is bound to be better!

I was watering plants yesterday, well, more accurately I was watering pots with soil and seeds in them, and noticed that one of the plants has started to sprout! I have hollyhock growing! It is so exciting to get to watch things come alive and grow! I just hope that I can keep them well indoors until it is warm enough outside. I don't think anyone has thought that our winter would be this harsh this long. It seems like it should be a lot warmer now than it is.

I am anxiously awaiting a book I ordered. It's about square foot gardening. I have been wanting to put a garden in, and was looking at numerous gardening books when this one popped up as a best seller. It uses raised bed gardens, which will benefit us and the type of yard we have. I cannot wait to get it and plan out what I think I will be able to grow this year! I'm hoping that it will help the kids get interested in gardening too. I've also heard that when kids grow their own foods and help prepare them, they're also more willing to eat them! We'll find out!

Spelling Bee News

Congrats to my Katie, who won 2nd place in the County Spelling Bee!! She will be moving on to State now! She was thrilled and is very excited to be able to go! Jesse finished in the top 8, and did really well himself! Very proud of my kids.

Today is cold and it has already snowed just a teeny bit. Everyone I talk to grumbles about the cold and snow, ready for it to end. I too, am ready for some warm weather.

I have lots of projects in mind for today, and hope that I can get most of them done. It's always good to stay in, stay warm and be creative! ATC cards and salve are a few of the projects. Making cut-out sugar cookies and letting the kids ice/decorate them is another one. I just remembered though that I still have yet to replace my mixer, and although I've still been able to make almost everything I normally would use the mixer for, but icing might be tough to make without it!

Laundry is beckoning me...although I hate to answer it's call :)

Is It Really Almost Friday?

How this week has flown by! I can't believe it's Thursday already.

Yesterday was Katie's Dr appt. She does indeed need to have her tonsils removed. We're waiting for a call from the surgery coordinator to find out what our part of the cost not covered by insurance will be, and when the surgery will be scheduled. Katie is so excited, she can hardly contain herself. I'm still glad that the worries and bad parts are still a mystery to her. If she only knew how miserable she'll feel afterward, she wouldn't be looking forward to it so much. But again, it's going to help her in so many ways. They rate tonsils on a 0-4, 4 being the worst. Her tonsils come in rating as a 4 and a 2, so it's best to have them out. Now just to figure out what's best to ease a nervous Momma and her active imagination!

Today is the County Spelling Bee! I am very excited to see the kids compete. I of course, hope they do well, and would be ecstatic if they won. But I am so proud of them that they've made it this far, that I couldn't ask for more. I am blessed with incredibly bright kids. It is a joy to see how smart they are and how well they are doing.

Tomorrow there is no school. The kids are excited for a 3 day weekend. It's weekend like this that I wish Mark had vacation time left. He does however get his vacation in May, and this year, he gets two weeks, instead of just one!

I'm hoping to make some more salve tomorrow. I'm going to try a new recipe, one I'm working on on my own. The last salve came out so nice, I thought I'd make another, with some different herbs this time. I only wish I didn't lack essential oils to give it that extra boost of goodness. The checkbook cringes when it sees the cost of essential oils though, so we'll just make due without.

Busy Monday

Okay, so today isn't so busy, but trying to plan out the rest of the week seems busy. Not totally hectic run around like crazy, but busy enough.

Tomorrow are parent teacher conferences, Wednesday is Katie's ENT appointment. Thursday is the County Spelling Bee and Friday, there is no school and I'm trying to get appointments made for both Jesse (who needs an immunization) and Lane, who appears to have had the staph return. The weekend is full of picking up a car for a friend, who can't travel to get it herself. So, there's a little something everyday, just enough to make it seem more busy than usual.

Yesterday, Case and I made some salve. It set up nicely and smells WONDERFUL! We didn't get pictures of the in between steps, but we did get a pic of the herbs and oils in the crock pot.





I will try to post a picture of the finished product soon. It turned out really nice! A very moisturizing, smooth salve. I can't wait to make more. A recipe for an "itch balm" will come in handy in the summer with mosquito and chigger bites!

Elderberry Syrup

My friend Casey came down today and we are busy in the kitchen! We've got herbs and oil in the crockpot, preparing to make an herbal salve out of them. We're planting some seeds, just to get a head start on the spring feeling! And we've made a few candles, and are going to make some more. But our finished project for the day, is elderberry syrup. Elderberry syrup is full of antioxidants and excellent for your immune system. You can take it during the cold and flu season as a daily supplement, or when you're sick to help you get over it sooner.
You add elderberries to your water to boil.



Then, you grate fresh ginger, and add a cinnamon stick and cloves.




Next, you strain the liquid out (after you've simmered it to reduce by half.) Now, you add your honey.


And finally, you pour your syrup into your sanitized bottles and wait for it to cool, so you can put on the cap and store it in the refrigerator.


Now, you have all natural elderberry syrup! It makes me feel better knowing I'm giving my family something that is natural and good for you, instead of questionable ingredients.

Friday is Here!

It has been a fairly long week. It seems we've been a bit more busy this week with a bunch of different things. The school budget cut meetings, half day of school, the Suburban breaking down,etc. But it's Friday and that is always a good day.

Much to, no ones surprise, it's snowing again! I cannot remember how long it's been, since we've had so much snow. I'm not sure if it's even the amount of snow that we've had, but just how often it's snowed! The snow today is really wet, and has clung to everything. It's so gorgeous! If the Suburban were running, I would take Lane out so we could take some pictures. I did get a few in the back yard.



Friday usually means grocery shopping. I've been reading up on other blogs about coupon shopping. I'm anxious to see what kinds of savings I can make, using coupons and store sales. I will let you know how it goes.

How Much Say Do You Have?

Oven baked chimichangas are in the oven. Two kids done with homework, one left to finish theirs, and Lane is crying. Sounds like a regular night here at our house.

I'm going back and forth between attending the 2nd budget cut meeting the school is holding. I attended the first on Tuesday night, and there is a 2nd tonight. At the first, we learned a lot and a little, all at the same time. Tonight, it's a parent led meeting, which makes me hopeful we might get more answers.

I understand that everyone nowadays is having to make ends meet. But when you discuss our children and their education, we tend to get a little snippy. There are choices that the school board is going to have to face. Do you cut elementary library, or middle school band? And those ARE some of the things on the chopping block. As is closing down an entire elementary school, and shuffling the kids into the other 3 we have in town. I wish we had more say, and maybe at some point, we WILL have a say. But up to this point, we haven't.

It's a frustrating thing, and there are always questions you will never have the answers to. At least not an honest and direct answer anyway. But attending the meeting is as close as it comes to being active and showing concern. So it looks like I'm in for a night of budget discussion.

Another Chilly Day

Brrrrr! I had thought it was supposed to be warming up, but it's definitely cold and overcast today. Most of the snow is gone now, with just a bit still hanging around in the shadows. We're looking at possible snow again Fri, Sat and Sun. It wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't need nice weather so my husband doesn't freeze fixing our Suburban!

Yesterday morning while the Suburban was warming up, it died. I was able to get it started a few more times, but it would die each time. My husband is a mechanic (although it's not his full time day job anymore.) so he diagnosed it promptly after getting home. Now comes the fun part. Fixing it. So I'll be on the standby with lots of hot coffee to thaw his frozen hands if he has to fix it in the snow.

This week has been fairly busy so far, but next week is even more busy! Meetings, appointments, and I can't forget about the County spelling bee!!

But right now my mind is on comfort food. Nothing drives away the cabin fever blues like something hot and yummy from the oven. A little afternoon treat, some hot coffee and a good book sound great to me. But I know that, in reality, that probably won't happen. It will be something more like, a quick gulp of hot coffee gone cold, and trying to get things done I should have done yesterday.

I'll see what I can do about that hot and yummy treat though...that may be too good to not make happen!

With Visions of Ice Cream...

I called this morning to make an appointment with an otolaryngologist (ear nose and throat doctor). The appointment is not for myself, but for my daughter Katie. Since birth, she has been a mouth breather and she snores, like a chainsaw. Seriously. You can usually hear her snoring from another room. After talking with her pediatrician and orthodontist, we determined she needs to be evaluated to have her tonsils and adenoids removed.

The orthodontist, you say? It's hard to believe, but posture of your mouth is very critical in how your lips and facial muscles help to keep your gums and teeth formed and in-line. If you are a mouth breather, your muscles tend to be more lax, which then allow your teeth and gums to protrude forward and sort of shift around. Either this is a totally new concept for me and it really is true (especially in her case) or, I'm very gullible and will believe whatever an orthodontist tells me.
So we'll soon be visiting the ENT for an exam, to see what they think about surgery. I don't like the thought of surgery, especially anything elective. But it has been a problem medically and is also a problem with moving forward with the orthodontist.

Katie is okay with the idea. I think she is excited about being able to see some progress with visiting the orthodontist. She's excited about not snoring anymore. But most of all, she's excited about the ice cream. I had my tonsils removed when I was younger. I remember the pain. So of course, I promised her lots and lots of ice cream.

Now if someone told ME I was having to have surgery, the night before, all I would be able to think of is the surgeon losing an instrument inside me, cutting off the wrong part, or possibly never waking up. I don't think kids think like that. At least not Katie. I wish I could be a kid, and the night before surgery, falling asleep with visions of ice cream...

Herbs Syrups and Salves OH MY!

Today, the UPS man brought me a package! I love getting packages! Last week I had ordered bottles and containers for some of my current projects! I had to order more tincture bottles, for my herbal remedies (I found out I didn't have enough for my batches I've made prior!)These are some of my tinctures I've already gotten bottled.


And I also ordered 8oz bottles, for the elderberry syrup I'm making, and salve jars for a few new salve recipes I'm trying!




I'm really excited to get the elderberry syrup and the salves going! I need to wait a bit before I have all the ingredients for the salves, but the syrup should be going soon! I can't wait to get in the kitchen and concoct some awesome remedies!

Do you take or make any herbal remedies?

Homemade Butter!

After an uneventful Saturday, Sunday was a welcome day of fun!

My friend Casey and brother-in-law Scott (who are dating) came down to our house for the day. Scott and my hubby Mark, wanted to get some work done on the boys room. The boys room has been a long on-going project and it's all starting to come together now. Once dubbed the "Swiss Cheese Room", it now has walls and a closet! So they worked on the room while Casey and I found fun things to do.

One of the things we had wanted to try, was to make butter. I'm not really sure why, other than curiosity and wanting to make something homemade.

I had prepped the cream by letting it sit out for the better part of the day (directions say to let it sit out for at least 12 hours, but no longer than 24 hours). 1qt container gave us each 2 cups to shake to death in a jar!! Ready, set, start shaking!!!!

After a few minutes, our liquid cream started getting thick..shake shake shake...another few minutes, and it didn't even feel like it was able to be shaken at all it was so thick...shake shake (ugh, are we done yet? my arms are tired)shake...wow, that's strange, it sounds like all liquid again!
A quick internet search to make sure we were on track! We passed the jars off at this point to a couple of the kids, just to make sure they had as much fun as we were ;) Shake shake shake...open the lid to peek in, OH! It's BUTTER! We kept shaking till we were sure we had creamed up all the butter possible. Then rinsed and rinsed in cold water.

Beautiful, fluffy creamy butter! One 2 cup jar of cream made enough butter to just overfill a pint glass jar. Next time I make butter, I promise to photograph each step to post! It's a lot of fun, and a good feeling, even if its something as silly as butter!